PUTRAJAYA: Candidates’ overall performance in the 2016 Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examinations improved compared to 2015, Education director-general Tan Sri Dr Khair Mohamad Yusof said today.
He said the National Average Grade (GPN) improved, with a score of 5.10, compared to 5.15 in 2015. A lower GPN score indicates better performance.
However, out of 434,535 candidates who sat for the examination at 3,732 examination centres nationwide last year, only 8,647 scored straight As, compared to 9,721 students in 2015.
"Only 102, or 1.94 per cent of students, achieved straight A+, compared to 163 students (2.6 per cent) in 2015.
"(The number of students) who scored A and A- also decreased, with only 2.13 per cent in 2016, compared to 2.38 per cent in 2015," Khair Mohamad told reporters at the announcement of the 2016 SPM Results Analysis today.
Despite the decrease in the number of straight As, he said students' individual performance in the examination was much better than in 2015.
Achievements of candidates in urban and rural areas also improved, with rural students showing an increase of 0.08 in GPN, compared to their urban counterparts with 0.05, Khair Mohamad said.
With compulsory passes for Bahasa Melayu and History, 340,698 students qualified for SPM certificates.
"A total of 510, or 58.42 special needs students out 873, also qualified for SPM certificates," he added.
Khair Mohamad said the achievements in 41, including Bahasa Melayu, English and Islamic studies, out of 73 subjects had shown improvement, while 28 showed a decline and four remained the same.